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Social Media Influencer Marketing and Children’s Food Intake: A Randomized Trial
In this study by Coates et al. (2019), the authors investigated the effect social media influencers who market foods (healthy and unhealthy) have on the food intake of children. Through this between-subjects study, 176 children (mean age 10.5 ± 0.7 years) were randomly allocated to observe mock instagram profiles of 2 youtube video influencers, containing images of influencers with either unhealthy snacks (n = 58), healthy snacks (n = 59), or nonfood items (n = 59). Thereafter, participants’ free intake of unhealthy snacks, healthy snacks, and overall dietary intake was evaluated, revealing that children who observed influencers with unhealthy snacks consumed more calories overall, and substantially ate more unhealthy snacks, compared to children who observed influencers with nonfood products. Moreover, observing influencers with healthy snacks did not have a substantial impact on food intake. In conclusion, the authors state that social media influencers’ food promotion impacts the dietary choices of children, and that influencers marketing unhealthy food leads to an immediate increase of food consumption. On the other hand, the marketing of healthy food showed no effects, thus, the use of social media influencers to promote healthy food choices may not present an effective intervention to enhance dietary habits in children, and that more studies are required to fully recognize the effects of digital food marketing and to guide policy decision making. [NPID: Child behavior, diet, food preferences, marketing, nutritional requirements, obesity, social Media]
Year: 2019
